“INSIDE & OUTSIDE” at Vice & Virtue Gallery and Rika Contemporary

NEUNOA Explores Identity and Connection through

“INSIDE & OUTSIDE” at Vice & Virtue Gallery and Rika Contemporary

Vice & Virtue Gallery and Rika Contemporary proudly present the solo exhibition of Japanese artist NEUNOA, titled INSIDE & OUTSIDE, running from June 5 to July 5, 2026, at V&V Gallery, Jakarta Art Hub 3rd Floor, and Rika Contemporary, Jakarta Art Hub 2, 4th Floor, Gondangdia, Menteng, Central Jakarta. The exhibition opens for the media at 3:00 PM WIB and officially opens to the public at 5:00 PM WIB.

NEUNOA is a Tokyo-based contemporary artist whose artistic practice explores the essential values that exist beyond visible appearances and recognizable identities. Using imagery of public figures from the worlds of music, film, politics, and popular culture, NEUNOA transforms familiar images through thick layers of paint, physical gestures, and powerful abstraction. The works question how identity, value, authority, and perception are shaped within a society saturated by visual information.

By obscuring and reconstructing layers of identity such as social background, gender, age, and race, NEUNOA creates space for viewers to discover the human qualities that exist beyond labels and visual classifications. In their artistic practice, NEUNOA also chooses not to disclose personal details such as age, gender, nationality, or appearance in order to maintain focus on the concepts and presence of the artworks themselves.

Since beginning their artistic journey in 2021, NEUNOA has presented works at various international exhibitions and art fairs, including Art Jakarta, ART021 Shanghai, ART TAIPEI, World Art Dubai, Art Fair Philippines, Terada Art Complex, Ginza Tsutaya Books GINZA ATRIUM, and Hankyu Men’s Tokyo. NEUNOA has also collaborated with international brands such as HARE (Japan), LIQUITEX (United States), and STAEDTLER (Germany).

In addition to showcasing previous paintings, this exhibition also features embroidered works created in collaboration with &T, an embroidery art brand developed by the TAJIMA Group. Established in 1944, TAJIMA is a Japanese industrial embroidery machine company globally recognized for its innovations in embroidery technology. Over the years, TAJIMA has continuously developed technologies that combine traditional craftsmanship with contemporary innovation, including AI-powered systems designed to reproduce the skills of embroidery artisans.

Through the &T brand and its message, “People and Thread,” TAJIMA explores new possibilities within the embroidery medium by combining the sensibilities of contemporary artists with high-precision embroidery technology. In this collaboration, threads move back and forth between the front and back sides of the fabric, forming images while simultaneously revealing the hidden structures behind the visual surface. These structures reflect NEUNOA’s artistic exploration of the relationship between what is seen and what remains unseen.

Jakarta serves as an important context for the exhibition’s theme. As a city where diverse ethnicities, languages, cultures, and values intersect, Jakarta represents the evolving relationship between local and global identities. The long-standing relationship between Indonesia and Japan also forms an important backdrop to this collaboration, bringing together painting and thread, technology and tradition, and different cultural perspectives within a shared artistic dialogue. The theme INSIDE & OUTSIDE exists not only within the artworks themselves, but also through the context in which the exhibition takes place.

Within this exhibition, thread functions as more than a material. Its movement across the front and back of the fabric becomes a symbol connecting the visible and the hidden, as well as different backgrounds and values. The symbol “&” in the title is not intended as a separator between “inside” and “outside,” but rather as a sign that brings both together within an interconnected relationship.

In a world still marked by conflict and division, INSIDE & OUTSIDE offers a perspective that sees difference not as a boundary, but as a connection. Through painting and embroidery, the exhibition invites the public to reconsider the essential values of people and objects beyond the visual markers that dominate contemporary life.

For further information regarding the exhibition, please contact:

Vivin – WhatsApp: +62 817 171219
Vice & Virtue Gallery – Instagram: @vicevirtuegallery
Rika Contemporary – Instagram: @rikacontemporary